CAZENOVIA — During the Oct. 15 Cazenovia Central School District Board of Education (CCSD BOE) meeting, Superintendent Christopher DiFulvio provided information related to the New York State mandate that all new school buses purchased must be zero-emission by 2027, and all school buses operating within the state must be zero-emission by 2035.

DiFulvio first discussed the NY School Bus Incentive Program (NYSBIP), a voucher incentive program established by the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to assist school districts in complying with the zero-emission school bus mandate.

DiFulvio informed the board that the grant writing team CCSD works with through OCM BOCES has recommended against applying for the grant program.

According to the superintendent, the grant writer who communicated with the district explained that NYSERDA would end up reimbursing the district for only about one-third of the cost of a bus.

The executive summary prepared by the grant writing team gave an example of an electric school bus with a purchase price of $332,511. The base voucher for that type of bus is $114,000, leaving $218,511 as the district’s responsibility.

Assistant Superintendent/School Business Official Thomas Finnerty noted that for the district’s 2024-25 gasoline bus purchase, the base price is about $139,000; with added options, the total is approximately $178,000.

In addition to stating that the NYSBIP would only cover about one-third of the cost of a zero-emission bus, the grant writer said the state does not have the infrastructure to support this program, and districts do not have the money to replace their gas and diesel bus fleets at such costs.

“It’s unlikely that this current mandate can be achieved in reality, so hopefully [the state pushes] this down the road because of the expenses [and] the lack of infrastructure,” said DiFulvio.

During his update, the superintendent also reported that CCSD Transportation Supervisor Karen Brouillette proposed inviting some vendors to future school board meetings to discuss electric buses and other options available to the district, including gas and “clean diesel” buses, to prepare the district to present a bus purchase proposition to voters in May and to clear up any misinformation.

“I think it would be beneficial for the board to hear more, so if that is what you would like to do, let me know, but it would be my recommendation that we learn some more about buses,” DiFulvio said.

Later in the meeting, BOE member Jan Woodworth asked if Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office has discussed changing the zero-emission bus mandate implementation or timeline.

DiFulvio responded that he knew of such discussions in the New York State Legislature.

“[Assemblyman] Al Stirpe said at the legislative meeting that there has got to be something done,” he said. “I think they are going to have to peel this back somehow to go city, suburban, and then to rural districts like Cazenovia.”

He also commented that some local districts with electric buses are struggling to use them due to issues such as the limited range of travel between bus battery charges and the amount of time needed to charge the batteries.

BOE member Ron Luteran then steered the discussion to the district’s need for a new bus garage.

“We at least can focus our attention more on [building a bus garage] and having it have the capabilities to run electric buses down the road,” Luteran said.

Regarding the garage, DiFulvio reported that the district is waiting on some pricing information. Once that is available, he plans to bring it to the board immediately.

Finnerty announced that Colliers Engineering & Design, the firm conducting a shared highway garage and electric vehicle charging infrastructure feasibility study, is tentatively planning to present at the Nov. 18 BOE meeting.

The firm is looking at the school district, the towns of Nelson and Cazenovia, and the Village of Cazenovia to investigate opportunities to consolidate bus and highway garage infrastructure and resources. The study is also examining the feasibility of shared electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Upcoming CCSD events

The Cazenovia High School Pumpkin Run/Walk 5k Fundraiser will be held on Sunday, Oct. 27, at 1 p.m. Halloween costumes are encouraged. Register or donate at runsignup.com/Race/NY/Cazenovia/CazPumpkinRun5K.

The Cazenovia Junior High Drama Club will present Disney’s “Newsies JR.” on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 4 p.m., Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. Purchase tickets at cur8.com/projects/CazenoviaHS.

BOE meetings are open to the public, and community members are encouraged to attend. Meeting dates are listed on the district website and the school calendar. For more information, visit cazenoviacsd.com. To contact the entire board, email [email protected].

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